Maritime SAFE Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1269 To address the threat to national security from illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and associated illegal activity, to prevent the illegal trade of seafood and seafood products, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 1, 2019 Mr. WICKER (for himself and Mr. COONS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To address the threat to national security from illegal, unre- ported, and unregulated fishing and associated illegal activity, to prevent the illegal trade of seafood and sea- food products, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Maritime Security And Fisheries Enforcement Act’’ or 5 the ‘‘Maritime SAFE Act’’. 6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 7 this Act is as follows: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 May 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1269.IS S1269 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1269 IS Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Definitions. Sec. 3. Findings. Sec. 4. Purposes. Sec. 5. Statement of policy. TITLE I—PROGRAMS TO COMBAT IUU FISHING AND INCREASE MARITIME SECURITY Sec. 101. Coordination with international organizations. Sec. 102. Engagement of diplomatic missions of the United States. Sec. 103. Assistance by Federal agencies to improve law enforcement within priority regions and priority flag states. Sec. 104. Expansion of existing mechanisms to combat IUU fishing. Sec. 105. Improvement of transparency and traceability programs. Sec. 106. Technology programs. Sec. 107. Information sharing. TITLE II—ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP ON IUU FISHING AND SEAFOOD FRAUD Sec. 201. Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing and Seafood Fraud. Sec. 202. Strategic plan. Sec. 203. Reports. Sec. 204. Gulf of Mexico IUU Fishing Subworking Group. TITLE III—COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN CONNECTION WITH THE CATCHING AND PROCESSING OF SEAFOOD PRODUCTS Sec. 301. Finding. Sec. 302. Adding the Secretary of Commerce to the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking. Sec. 303. Human trafficking in the seafood supply chain report. TITLE IV—AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS Sec. 401. Authorization of appropriations. SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) AIS.—The term ‘‘AIS’’ means Automatic 3 Identification System (as defined in section 164.46 4 of title 33, Code of Federal Regulations, or a similar 5 successor regulation). 6 (2) COMBINED MARITIME FORCES.—The term 7 ‘‘Combined Maritime Forces’’ means the 33-nation 8 naval partnership, originally established in February 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 May 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1269.IS S1269 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1269 IS 2002, which promotes security, stability, and pros- 1 perity across approximately 3,200,000 square miles 2 of international waters. 3 (3) EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE.— 4 (A) IN GENERAL.—Unless otherwise speci- 5 fied by the President as being in the public in- 6 terest in a writing published in the Federal 7 Register, the term ‘‘exclusive economic zone’’ 8 means— 9 (i) the area within a zone established 10 by a maritime boundary that has been es- 11 tablished by a treaty in force or a treaty 12 that is being provisionally applied by the 13 United States; or 14 (ii) in the absence of a treaty de- 15 scribed in clause (i)— 16 (I) a zone, the outer boundary of 17 which is 200 nautical miles from the 18 baseline from which the breadth of 19 the territorial sea is measured; or 20 (II) if the distance between the 21 United States and another country is 22 less than 400 nautical miles, a zone, 23 the outer boundary of which is rep- 24 resented by a line equidistant between 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1269.IS S1269 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1269 IS the United States and the other coun- 1 try. 2 (B) INNER BOUNDARY.—Without affecting 3 any Presidential Proclamation with regard to 4 the establishment of the United States terri- 5 torial sea or exclusive economic zone, the inner 6 boundary of the exclusive economic zone is— 7 (i) in the case of coastal States, a line 8 coterminous with the seaward boundary of 9 each such State (as described in section 4 10 of the Submerged Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 11 1312)); 12 (ii) in the case of the Commonwealth 13 of Puerto Rico, a line that is 3 marine 14 leagues from the coastline of the Common- 15 wealth of Puerto Rico; 16 (iii) in the case of American Samoa, 17 the United States Virgin Islands, and 18 Guam, a line that is 3 geographic miles 19 from the coastlines of American Samoa, 20 the United States Virgin Islands, or Guam, 21 respectively; 22 (iv) in the case of the Commonwealth 23 of the Northern Mariana Islands— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1269.IS S1269 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1269 IS (I) the coastline of the Common- 1 wealth of the Northern Mariana Is- 2 lands, until the Commonwealth of the 3 Northern Mariana Islands is granted 4 authority by the United States to reg- 5 ulate all fishing to a line seaward of 6 its coastline; and 7 (II) upon the United States 8 grant of the authority described in 9 subclause (I), the line established by 10 such grant of authority; or 11 (v) for any possession of the United 12 States not referred to in clause (ii), (iii), or 13 (iv), the coastline of such possession. 14 (C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 15 this paragraph may be construed to diminish 16 the authority of the Department of Defense, the 17 Department of the Interior, or any other Fed- 18 eral department or agency. 19 (4) FOOD SECURITY.—The term ‘‘food secu- 20 rity’’ means access to, and availability, utilization, 21 and stability of, sufficient food to meet caloric and 22 nutritional needs for an active and healthy life. 23 (5) GLOBAL RECORD OF FISHING VESSELS, RE- 24 FRIGERATED TRANSPORT VESSELS, AND SUPPLY 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1269.IS S1269 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1269 IS VESSELS.—The term ‘‘global record of fishing ves- 1 sels, refrigerated transport vessels, and supply ves- 2 sels’’ means the Food and Agriculture Organization 3 of the United Nations’ initiative to rapidly make 4 available certified data from state authorities about 5 vessels and vessel related activities. 6 (6) IUU FISHING.—The term ‘‘IUU fishing’’ 7 means illegal fishing, unreported fishing, or unregu- 8 lated fishing (as such terms are defined in para- 9 graph 3 of the International Plan of Action to Pre- 10 vent, Deter, and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and 11 Unregulated Fishing, adopted at the 24th Session of 12 the Committee on Fisheries in Rome on March 2, 13 2001). 14 (7) PORT STATE MEASURES AGREEMENT.—The 15 term ‘‘Port State Measures Agreement’’ means the 16 Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, 17 Deter, and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported, and Un- 18 regulated Fishing set forth by the Food and Agri- 19 culture Organization of the United Nations, done at 20 Rome, Italy November 22, 2009, and entered into 21 force June 5, 2016, which offers standards for re- 22 porting and inspecting fishing activities of foreign- 23 flagged fishing vessels at port. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1269.IS S1269 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1269 IS (8) PRIORITY FLAG STATE.—The term ‘‘priority 1 flag state’’ means a country selected in accordance 2 with section 202(b)(3)— 3 (A) whereby the flagged vessels of which 4 actively engage in, knowingly profit from, or are 5 complicit in IUU fishing; and 6 (B) that is willing, but lacks the capacity, 7 to monitor or take effective enforcement action 8 against its fleet. 9 (9) PRIORITY REGION.—The term ‘‘priority re- 10 gion’’ means a region selected in accordance with 11 section 202(b)(2)— 12 (A) that is at high risk for IUU fishing ac- 13 tivity or the entry of illegally caught seafood 14 into the markets of countries in the region; and 15 (B) in which countries lack the capacity to 16 fully address the illegal activity described in 17 subparagraph (A). 18 (10) REGIONAL FISHERIES MANAGEMENT OR- 19 GANIZATION.—The term ‘‘Regional Fisheries Man- 20 agement Organization’’ means an intergovernmental 21 fisheries organization or arrangement, as appro- 22 priate, that has the competence to establish con- 23 servation and management measures. 24 (11) SEAFOOD.—The term ‘‘seafood’’— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1269.IS S1269 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1269 IS (A) means marine finfish, mollusks, crus- 1 taceans, and all other forms of marine animal 2 and plant life, including those grown, produced, 3 or reared through marine aquaculture oper- 4 ations or techniques; and 5 (B) does not include marine mammals or 6 birds. 7 (12) SEAFOOD FRAUD.—The term ‘‘seafood 8 fraud’’ means the knowing mislabeling or misrepre- 9 sentation of information regarding seafood or sea- 10 food products with the intent to deceive or defraud. 11 (13) SEAFOOD TRACEABILITY PROGRAM.—The 12 term ‘‘seafood traceability program’’ means any pro- 13 gram implemented by the National Oceanic and At- 14 mospheric Administration (such as the Seafood Im- 15 port Monitoring Program) that requires, with re- 16 spect to seafood and seafood products imported into 17 the United States— 18 (A) permitting, data reporting, and record- 19 keeping to prevent illegal, unreported, unregu- 20 lated, or misrepresented seafood from entering 21 United States commerce; and 22 (B) verifying the chain of custody of such 23 seafood, from harvest to point of entry into the 24 United States. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1269.IS S1269 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1269 IS (14) TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED ILLEGAL AC- 1 TIVITY.—The term ‘‘transnational organized illegal 2 activity’’ means criminal activity conducted by self- 3 perpetuating associations of individuals who operate 4 transnationally for the purpose of obtaining power, 5 influence, or monetary or commercial gains, wholly 6 or in part by illegal means, while protecting their ac- 7 tivities through a pattern of corruption or violence 8 or through a transnational organizational structure 9 and the exploitation of transnational commerce or 10 communication mechanisms. 11 (15) TRANSSHIPMENT.—The term ‘‘trans- 12 shipment’’ means the use of refrigerated vessels 13 that— 14 (A) collect catch from multiple fishing 15 boats; 16 (B) carry the accumulated catches back to 17 port; and 18 (C) deliver supplies to fishing boats, which 19 allows fishing vessels to remain at sea for ex- 20 tended periods without coming into port. 21 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 22 Congress makes the following findings: 23 (1) In a report titled, ‘‘Global Implications of 24 Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fish- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1269.IS S1269 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1269 IS ing’’, the Office of the Director of National Intel- 1 ligence identified IUU fishing as— 2 (A) a threat to the national security of the 3 United States; and 4 (B) a challenge to peace and stability in 5 regions of importance to the United States. 6 (2) Executive Order 13773 (82 Fed. Reg. 7 10691), issued on February 9, 2017, calls for a 8 comprehensive approach by the Federal Government 9 to combat crime syndicates, including transnational 10 organized illegal activities that may be associated 11 with IUU fishing. 12 (3) It is estimated that the value of IUU fish- 13 ing may exceed $1,000,000,000 annually in unlawful 14 or undocumented revenue and may sometimes be 15 linked to transnational organized illegal activities, 16 including weapons, drug, and human trafficking. 17 (4) IUU fishing— 18 (A) undermines the business of legitimate 19 workers in the seafood industry; and 20 (B) can create inaccurate population esti- 21 mates for fish and other seafood species. 22 (5) Marine fisheries employ millions of people 23 worldwide, the livelihoods of whom can be negatively 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1269.IS S1269 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1269 IS impacted by IUU fishing and associated 1 transnational organized illegal activities. 2 (6) IUU fishing vessels play a significant role 3 in other forms of trafficking, particularly drug traf- 4 ficking. The Department of Justice has documented 5 numerous cases of illicit fishing ships involved in 6 trafficking cocaine, heroin, and cannabis from South 7 America to the United States. 8 (7) By introducing cheaper, illegal products 9 into the global market, IUU fishing undercuts the 10 business and economic livelihoods of legitimate fish- 11 ermen in the United States and around the world. 12 (8) In the United States and around the world, 13 seafood fraud undermines the economic viability of 14 fisheries and deceives consumers about their pur- 15 chasing choices. 16 (9) Competition over seafood resources can lead 17 to heightened tensions, conflict, and geostrategic in- 18 stability in regions of importance to the United 19 States. 20 SEC. 4. PURPOSES. 21 The purposes of this Act are— 22 (1) to support a whole-of-government approach 23 across the Federal Government to counter IUU fish- 24 ing and related threats to maritime security; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 May 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1269.IS S1269 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1269 IS (2) to improve data sharing that enhances sur- 1 veillance, enforcement, and prosecution against IUU 2 fishing and related activities at a global level; 3 (3) to support coordination and collaboration to 4 counter IUU fishing and seafood fraud within pri- 5 ority regions; 6 (4) to increase and improve global transparency 7 and traceability across the seafood supply chain as— 8 (A) a deterrent to IUU fishing and seafood 9 fraud; 10 (B) a tool for strengthening fisheries man- 11 agement and food security; and 12 (C) an approach to enhancing the imple- 13 mentation of United States seafood traceability 14 programs; [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]